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Dodge, Hyundai crowdsourced-funding sites deemed successes

What's not to love about crowdsourcing? This idea, after all, has given us Kickstarter as well Local Motors, but automakers are starting to use the social platform to sell more cars (or just drum up a little PR). Both Dodge and Hyundai have used "crowd-funding" recently, and while Automotive News is reporting that neither has racked up big sales with this gimmick, both automakers are pleased with the attention.

For Hyundai, it teamed up with website Motozuma.com to help customers crowdsource money for a down payment, and the automaker matched this amount up to $500. Last year, this helped Hyundai sell an extra 1,600 units, a fraction of its total 2012 sales. That figure is far larger than Dodge fared with the Dodge Dart Registry – it netted only two sales and a small number of individual options. This registry did help University of Southern California fraternity crowdsource $18,000 to buy a Dart for a local Meals on Wheels, however. Despite the low sales figures, Dodge and Hyundai are considering their crowdsourcing programs a success since it helped them connect with younger buyers.

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Sooooo.... this is what we're teaching young people as acceptable now. "Hey, I can't do it myself, but if lots of people GIVE me money, than I can buy a car (or insert item here)". #entitlement #everyonegetsatrophy #generationwhiny (I know this ain't Twitter)

"Despite the low sales figures, Dodge and Hyundai are considering their crowdsourcing programs a success since it helped them connect with younger buyers."
...and judging by yesterday's article, we all know how important it is for automakers to connect with young, broke and indebted buyers right?

Wow, people on both sides don't get it. This isn't an alternative to "paying for it yourself". It's not begging, and it's not the "new way to pay for stuff". It's just different way to accept a gift.
Try it. Go to the site and register and watch the money flow in as strangers fall over themselves to donate money. Not happening? That's because there's no reason for them to give you a gift.
Now go graduate from college or get married and point your your friends and family to the same site. You'll get $6,000 worth of car instead of $6,000 worth of junk you don't need. You pay the remaining $14,000 and now you have a car, but no junk. Don't have $14k? Pay in what you can now, and use it like a saving account.

No, its asking for money in a directed manor... much like the sign that says "Need money for food"... and not as it should be "Will WORK for food".
You want something, work your ass off, and get it for yourself, plain and simple.

This is a clear case of taking something for granted. Cars and houses are something that have to be earned, with well-made decisions. Crowd-sourcing a car is selfish and pathetic. It gives you only the feeling of owning a car, not the satisfaction of accomplishment for buying your own.

If you crowd-source a movie production, you usually get to watch it for free later, or are at least supporting something independent. Other crowd-sourced projects have similar positive attributes, this has none, and seems kinda retarded.